


Interrogation

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-21 01:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10674648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: mafia enforcer: with a nice place like this, maybe you could use a lil protection, eh? i think we could work us out a deal.shopkeeper: are you flirting with me“You look like someone a lot of people would want to hit up.” Minho cocks a brow to let Kibum know that they’re supposed to pick up on the implications of that, but then scrunches both almost immediately after. Wait. “Your place, I mean,” he says quickly.tumblr





	Interrogation

****If anyone had asked Minho, which no one did, he would have said that he didn’t want to to do this. **  
**

Instead, they _told_ him, as in, a strict order to not be disobeyed or else he knows where the door is, to go intimidate the owner of the little corner store with the watermelon flavor in the icee machine.

He doesn’t want to do this. He doesn’t _do_ intimidations. He’s a guard, one of the dudes that stands in front of doors and looks mean and tough, and he _likes_ having that job. He’s good at being strong and silent. He’s _not_ good at being intimidating and persuasive. “It’s just some convenience store owner, Minho can take care of it” his ass. The person behind the counter in there as Minho leans casually against the glass and peeks into the window has a hard side buzz with aggressively red hair and spiked wristbands and eyeliner sharper than Taemin’s knives. Their confident posture and haughty arm cross marks them as someone that doesn’t take shit from anyone, either.

Minho sighs. Whatever. He’s a Choi. His name alone should be enough to get this done without much effort. He can do this; he can get this shitty corner store that’s only sorta-kinda on the border between their territory and the Lees’ just so they can get free icees whenever they want. The sign on the window says the store closes at six, so Minho invites himself in there at fifteen minutes passed, hands in his pockets, doing his best to act like he thinks he owns the place.

The clerk looks at him like he’s a slug as he grins and leans up against the counter.

“Hey, uh,” he says, pretending that their look of disgust isn’t unsettling him greatly. He’s been along to these types of things as backup before; he does his best to remember how everyone else usually does them.  “This is a nice place that you have here,” he says. He picks up a little pack of gum from the stand next to the register and inspects it for a few seconds to give the clerk--Kibum, their nametag says--time to see the rings on his fingers that mark him as a Choi. He puts the gum back and looks not into their eyes (because their eyeliner is kind of freaky, if he’s being honest with himself) but at the scar on their right eyebrow. It’s kind of cute. “I was thinking, maybe--”

“We’re closed,” Kibum says flatly. Minho blinks, taken aback. Did they not notice his rings? Also, how does someone so pretty and pointed have a voice that low? The way it snapped out of their glossed lips seemed almost obscene, exciting in it’s unexpectedness. Minho schools his face back into casual indifference way too many seconds too late, rests his hand on the counter and taps his nails loudly against the glass.

“I won’t take long,” he assures them. Their eyes flick down to his rings and then back to his face, no change in expression. Well, Minho has no idea what that means. Do they not know about, like, the mafia and shit? He doesn’t see how they can’t. He’s pretty sure someone got stabbed across the street from here last week. “Anyway,” he says. “You look like someone a lot of people would want to hit up.” He cocks a brow to let Kibum know that they’re supposed to pick up on the implications of that, but then scrunches both almost immediately after. Wait. “Your place, I mean,” he says quickly. “This place. Looks like a place that. A lot of people would want to. Hit up.” That’s what he meant. He supposes the first part is true as well--the longer he looks at Kibum the more gorgeous he realizes they are--but that’s not the point.

“And--and I was thinking, you know, if you wanted to let me in, I could offer you some… protection. Against, you know, those people.” Those people that are his people, and the protection being that they wouldn’t smash up Kibum’s shop if they let them have it. He props his chin up in his hand and makes his rings obvious again, just in case Kibum didn’t _really_ notice the first time they noticed. Kibum’s eyes flick to them again; their frown twists even further into a scowl.

“Are you flirting with me?” they ask.

“I--uh--what? Um.” Minho was not prepared for this question. His chin slips from his hand and he feels his face flushing as Kibum continues to look at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. “Um,” Minho says again, not wanting to keep them waiting. “Am I? I don’t--maybe?” If Kibum says he is then they must have picked up on it. Fuck. At his stammering, Kibum rolls their eyes and fixes their jacket over their shoulders.

“I said we’re closed,” they say, grabbing a bag from under their counter. They flip another few switches under there as well and all of the lights go off until the little store is only illuminated by the streetlamps outside. Minho doesn’t exactly realize what’s happening until they’ve already started walking towards the door.

“Hey--wait--you can’t--”

“Look, asshole,” Kibum snaps, turning to face him again. “I wanna go home. I don’t care if you’re the boss’s kid or whatever, you saw the sign out there and decided to come in passed closing time to threaten me and that’s _your_ fault. Just because I have a healthy fear of your family that doesn’t mean you can keep me here passed closing and flirt with me without even noticing it. Come back tomorrow if you want free gum so bad.” They turn back around and head towards the door again; Minho stares after them blankly. Fuck. What. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen. He’s not supposed to be feeling this guilty. Kibum shoulders open the door and then holds it open, frowning back at Minho with their keys in their hand.

“Are you coming or what?” they ask. “I can’t lock up with you in there. This is making me like you even less.”

“Oh--uh--sorry,” Minho mumbles, scuttling out as quick as he can without breaking into a run. He’s already kept them for so long. He stands awkwardly as Kibum closes the door behind him and jams the key into the lock. When Kibum turns around, they frown at him once more before heading to the car parked in the corner of the lot. They get in and leave without a word, and Minho kind of just watches them. Well, shit.

“Did you get the store?” is the first thing he hears when he slips back into hq ten minutes later. He winces, very aware of the way Changmin follows him to the bar, and slumps into a bar stool.

“Well, uh,” he says, as he flaps a hand at Sungmin to tell him he wants his usual, “No. But I will tomorrow,” he adds when Changmin scoffs. “Before closing.”

~

The next day, before closing, Minho strolls his way back into the corner store. This time he has a plan, a well thought out speech to get what he wants when he wants it. He strides right up to the counter fifteen minutes _before_ closing, leans his elbow on the counter, and smirks at the clerk.

“So,” he says smoothly. “About--”

“Do you mind? The line starts over there,” Kibum tells him, not even looking up as they continue scanning some chips and a water bottle. Minho blinks, frowns, looks to see who is messing up his plan. It’s just some random asshole, who at least is looking at the rings on his fingers with the correct amount of fear. Minho doesn’t get why he’s supposed to care about them and he turns back to Kibum, confused.

“I’m--”

“Wait two minutes, god damn, you’re so rude,” Kibum snaps. “Three fifty-seven, please,” they add to their customer, flapping out a new bag and putting their purchase into it. Minho stands there, incredibly flustered, again, as the customer fumbles to hand over the money and then scuttles away before Kibum can give them their change. Kibum tosses the extra into the register and then slams it shut. “Okay, what?” they ask, looking up at Minho with their sharp eyes. Minho blinks.

“Um,” he says. “Uh.” Fuck. He forgot his plan and his speech. “About, um,” he starts, blush rising in his neck again as Kibum cocks both their hip and their brow at him. “About--this place,” he says. “This is a very convenient, um, convenience… store. One that a lot of people, bad people, would want to. You know. So um.” He vaguely remembers something about leaning a certain way to let Kibum see the gun inside his jacket but he can’t even remember what side he put it on. Kibum is chewing gum and they blow a large pink bubble as Minho struggles to work this out.

“So,” Minho continues. “I can keep that from, like, happening, if, in like, a completely innocent and platonic and not… romantic or sexual way, at all, um, if you would… want to let me in?”

The pop of Kibum’s bubblegum feels like the loudest thing he’s ever heard in his life, including all of the gunfights he’s been in.

“You know,” Kibum says, “you are my first personal experience with the Choi family, and let me tell you, after a lifetime of apprehension and fear, this is a huge fucking letdown.”

Minho feels like “speechless” shouldn’t be an emotion that he should be feeling right now, but he still feels it as Kibum looks him up and down. He’s never felt more judged in his life. He knew he should’ve argued more against this job. Kibum’s hip cocks to the other side after a moment along with a sigh.

“But,” they say, “I’m sure that it’s just you and the rest of your family still terrifies me and I don’t want them sending someone actually competent down here, so. Fine. You can use this place as your hideout or whatever. I’m not gonna get shot, right?”

“Um,” Minho says. Kibum’s red hair is falling into their left eye and when they flick it out of their face Minho catches three eyebrow piercings that he never noticed before. There are also stars pierced in their ears and a single glittery chain dangling from their left. If he looks hard enough, he can see another scar on their cheek. He brings himself to look into their eyes instead with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Hopefully not,” he says.

“You’re flirting with me again,” Kibum tells him.

“Fuck,” Minho hisses.


End file.
